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Through a Quiet Window
I have a tradition every year at CEDIA EXPO. At some point during the show, I find a quiet corner (an increasingly difficult task)...
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Remote Control for HDTV
Tis the season for HDTV sales. Out with the tube TVs and in with the new eye-popping HD flat screens. These hot tickets are...
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Analyzing Your Clients Needs
Creating an Effective Design Proposal Means Asking the Right Questions First
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ABCs and HDTV
Sometimes, its a wonder how our business survives at all. The other day I was watching a ballgame when a commercial for one of...
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Heavy Lifting
An Overview of Some of the Latest Video Mounts and Home Theater Seating Products
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Is it Time for Bigger Screens?
Well, folks, Ive just returned from CEDIA EXPO 2006, and as usual, there was no end of classes to teach, friends to meet, and...
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The Year of the Touchscreen
As I walked the show floor at CEDIA EXPO in Denver this year I was struck by how many exhibitors were demonstrating beautiful new...
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Is It Really Worth the Risk?
Running a custom business is a very demanding job. It takes great selling skills, years of professional technical and installation skills, and perhaps more...
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The Next Chapter Begins
Virtually everyone that I have spoken to since CEDIA EXPO in Denver last month saw this years show as an important milestone for our...
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Sharing a Custom Vision
How Lake Forest, Californias AUDIOVISIONS is Building a National Footprint Following Best Buys Acquisition
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Blue Laser Blues
There we were, my wife and I, ready to sit down, relax, and watch a good movie from the comforts of home. Our daughter...
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The High Def Frontier, Part 2
Time really does fly when youre having fun. It seems like only a couple of days ago that I was excitedly discussing the initial...
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Rocky Mountain Hi
At CEDIA EXPO, there are so many exhibitors, so many products, so many classes, so many contacts. If you spent just a few minutes...
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Questions and Answers
Often getting the answers you really need is a function of knowing enough to ask the right questions. The book for our industry is...
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Control Tablets Are Coming
Professionals in the custom electronics integrator space that have followed portable computing platforms over the years always looked at these devices as potential control...
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Protectionism Profits
Custom Installers Should Bring Power Management to the Top of the Line
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The Money Seat
Why the Dynamics of a Listening Room Can Significantly Impact Speaker Sound Quality
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Rock Revisited
Pop quiz: Who are Robert Zimmerman and Elliott Adnopoz and what links them together in rock and roll history? Thats the kind of fun...
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Putting Out Fires
Monday morning comes at you like a truck. You are hit with a long list of things to do and then, of course, the...
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Choose Wisely
As custom installers, many of the things that you typically put in a home theater are obsolete almost before you install them. Your client...
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Entertainment Via Ethernet
One of the greatest value-added services that we provide our clients is our knowledge of where entertainment technology has been and where it is...
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On the Wire
Realizing Cabling and Infrastructure Needs for the Video Content Distribution Revolution
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Back in Control
In the 1979 movie, Being There, a simple gardener named Chance, has never set foot outside the gates of the estate where he works....
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Get the Picture?
I see it all the time: award-winning home theaters with front-projection video systems and light-colored wall surfaces. It really bugs because the client is...
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1080p HDTV is Here
I think it was more than seven years ago at CES when I saw HDTV for the first time. It was on W-VHS tape...
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Networking A Grand Piano
During the last seven years that I have been reviewing, selling, installing, and supporting home networking products I rarely come across a product that...
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The Momentum of A-BUS
LeisureTechs Distributed Audio Solution is Still a Mainstay After Nearly a Decade
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Everything Zen
Most people recharge their inner spirituality at a local church, synagogue, or mosque. For me, an event organized by SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt usually...
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CEDIAs Rising Star
Before I started cyberManor in 1999 I decided to attend a conference, called Connections, which is dedicated to promoting the vision of the digitally...
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The 12 Beasts of Custom
Hercules was a mythical hero in Greek literature who had to perform 12 labors. These were feats of strength that were impossible for normal...
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Climbing the Ladder
How to Step Up from Entry-Level to a Management Position Within Your Company
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The High-Def Frontier
There can be no doubt about it. The high-definition frontier has arrived: HD DVD is here, and Blu-Ray Disc is just around the corner....